Stand in the Rain
by Tjix
Summary: Elemental Gelade. Ren tries for the Garden of Eden. When she collapses by the side of the road, no one is there to pick her back up again-or so she thinks...


(((Dedication: Dedicated to Rollingthunder, who introduced me to EG, and to a certain Flex Dyslex, who made watching it so much fun.

Summary: Ren tries for the Garden of Eden, traveling in the rain. When she collapses by the side of the road, no one is there to pick her back up again. Or, so she thinks...

Disclaimer: I own nothing--not Ren, not Coud, not the Garden of Eden, not the featured song, nothing.

Info: Songfic one-shot--"Stand in the Rain" by Superchick. Whether it's romantic or not is up to your perception. I'm not really sure.

Author Notes: I've only just started watching EG, and I already love it!

**Stand in the Rain**

**By: Tjix**

_Because she does not want to cause further trouble, and because she does not want Coud to get hurt, Ren has set off to find the Garden of Eden on her own._

Head down, Ren walked through the pouring rain, mud squelching beneath her shoes. Every so often, lightning split the sky and thunder crashed like a giant drum. She'd grown used to it, but that wasn't to say the great flashes of light and rolling booms didn't frighten her. More than once, she wished that Coud were with her. She always felt safer with him around.

She'd been walking for days, and it seemed like it had rained the whole time. She had found very little to eat and hadn't rested much at all.

_She never slows down._

_She doesn't know why_

_But she knows that when she's all alone,_

_Feels like it's all coming down._

Tears choked her throat. She tried to bury them--tears were for humans and Sitting Raids, not for Eden Raids, and certainly not for the Shichikouhouju--but she found that she couldn't. She tried very hard to prevent the hot tears from falling. If she started crying, she wouldn't stop until she reached the Garden of Eden--perhaps not even then.

She had to keep going.

_She won't turn around._

_The shadows are long_

_And she fears if she cries that first tear,_

_The tears will not stop raining down._

"Coud," she whispered, tears swimming in her eyes. She rubbed her sleeve over her face, wiping away rain and tears, and continued to fight her way through the rain.

_So stand in the rain,_

_Stand your ground._

_Stand up when it's all crashing down._

_Stand through the pain,_

_You won't drown._

_And one day what's lost can be found._

_Stand in the rain._

Ren fell, exhausted, by the side of the road. Her eyelids were heavy. She was soaked and shivering violently, but she didn't care. She remembered that after she and Coud had Reacted, he would always carry her so that she could sleep. She remembered the warm, gentle scent of him. She remembered thinking that maybe the smell of humans wasn't always such a bad thing.

Resting her head on a tree trunk and shivering, Ren whispered Coud's name again, to herself.

_She won't make a sound._

_Alone in this fight with herself_

_And the fear's whispering._

_If she stands, she'll fall down._

Ren struggled to get on her feet. Standing on shaky legs, she took a step--and fell to her knees. She was worn out. She'd had very little to eat and very little rest. She was cold and wet. She was tired and her feet ached.

She caught herself wishing that Coud would find her. That he would somehow appear out of the rain and reach out his hand to her.

_She wants to be found._

_The only way out is through everything_

_She's running from._

_She wants to give up and lie down._

Ren fell facedown in the mud, the rain beating on her back.

_So stand in the rain,_

_Stand your ground._

_Stand up when it's all crashing down._

_Stand through the pain,_

_You won't drown._

_And one day what's lost can be found._

_Stand in the rain._

She couldn't anymore. Her eyes closed. Her grip on her sorrow had grown weak, and was now broken. Salty tears spilled from her closed eyes, mixing with the rain and mud on her cheeks.

Warm, strong hands turned over carefully, then slipped under her back and knees, lifting her with very little effort. A very familiar scent surrounded her. Her eyes opened slightly.

Coud's silver-gray eyes looked worriedly down at her. "Ren?"

"Coud," she whispered.

Carefully balancing her with one arm and his knee, he wiped the mud from her face with his sleeve. Then his strong arms cradled her against his warm chest. "You're safe now," he told her.

"You shouldn't have come after me," she said softly. "I don't want to cause more trouble. Please, go back."

"Where you go, I go."

"Don't take me back."

"Take you back?" His arms tightened around her and he hunched over her, shielding her face from the rain. He grinned down at her. "I promised I would take you to the Garden of Eden, no matter what. I'm not going to break that promise."

She closed her eyes and buried her face in his chest, inhaling the warm scent of him. As he strode off into the rain, every step taking them closer to their goal, she fell asleep in his arms.

Safe.

_So stand in the rain,_

_Stand your ground._

_Stand up when it's all crashing down._

_Stand through the pain,_

_You won't drown._

_And one day what's lost can be found._

_Stand in the rain._


End file.
